photo by: Adobe Stock

Aerial drone view of solar panels at a solar energy generation farm at Sunset in South Wales, UK

Residents and businesses near a proposed 8 million square foot solar farm are asking a judge for an emergency order to prevent Douglas county commissioners from voting on the project at their Wednesday meeting.

Attorneys for Grant Township and more than 20 residents and businesses are asking Douglas County District Court for a temporary restraining order that would prevent county commissioners from voting on a pair of key studies for the Kansas Sky Energy Center, a solar farm project proposed for the Midland Junction area north of North Lawrence.

District Court Judge James McCabria has scheduled a 3:30 p.m. hearing today to consider whether county commissioners should be allowed to vote on the project at their regularly scheduled Wednesday evening meeting.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on both a stormwater management plan and an agrivoltaics plan at Wednesday’s meeting. The Kansas Sky Energy Center project — which would include more than 237,000 panels that would provide electricity for about 30,000 homes — can’t move forward until those plans are approved. They are among the last items left for county commissioners to approve on the project.

Check back for updates.